Rhinoceros

Tweed & Co. #18

by Colin Forbes

Colin Forbes' perennially popular and energetic team of characters, Tweed, Paula Grey and Bob Newman, are on the trail of five heads of state who are conspiring to cause massive civil unrest throughout the Western world. Dictatorship and martial law will be the only acceptable form of government. Tweed knows the identity of four of the ringleaders - but who is the fifth? The riots are being carefully and strategically orchestrated on the Internet. One man is singlehandedly creating a weapon to destroy the conspiracy, but whose side is he on? Tweed and his team are racing against time, through London, Germany and Denmark...

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Crime

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.

Reviews

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars ONLY because this one is slightly better than Sinister Tide, another under-average Forbes product. The plot is too bombastic, the "bad boys" too rude and stupid, the "good ones" are insipid, the battle scenes are are poorly executed, the coincidences far too many, there is no logic in Tweed&Co. wandering thru Germany.

Not to mention that I usually despise that kind of book where a human life is less valuable than a pair of dirty socks...

[Luke · Rating 1 out of 5]

50p! This cost me 50p at a second hand book sale and I want it back. I finished it in the hope that at some point the author would admit it was a joke at the expense of the public at large but to no avail. I have wasted too much energy wondering how this came to be published and should probably waste no more. I beg you not to read it.

[Linda Fox]

This has to be the worst book I have ever read. Bad story, bad characterisation, terrible style. I finished it as a challenge to myself.

[Philip Raby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probably the worst book I've ever read. The dialogue is unbelievable and stilted and what planet is the author on? A character puts a motorbike in the back of his car, which he constantly refers to as his 'hatchback', and three passengers as well. People drive around in 'limos', talk in cor-blimey accents and use public telephones. Is it the 1950s still?

The plot is ridiculous and shows the author had no understanding of technology.

Utter trash, don't waste your life reading it.

[Jairam Mohan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Colin Forbes's "Rhinoceros" is quite an old book and frankly hasn't aged all that well. To be fair to the author, it is set in the early 2000s and therefore the internet back then was not quite as ubiquitous as it is today, and given that the concept of global communications does form the crux of the story, the whole novel seems quite unbelievable today.

The attention the author has paid to staging the 'action sequences' and set pieces would have paid rich dividends if he had spent at least a proportionate amount of time in character building and plot building. Almost all the characters are undercooked, and to add fuel to the fire, there are too many of them. As a reader, at the end of the book, none of the characters stood out for me and neither did the overall plot itself.

To conclude, I repeat my earlier words, this book has aged well and can easily be avoided.

https://mahabore.wordpress.com/2024/0...

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in large print but I still struggled to engage in it early in the book but I did finish it .It is the first book by the author I have read but I see there are a number which have adventures with Tweed and his mates so I will be looking out for others before I judge the author too harshly. There were a lot of characters in the book and it took me a while to sort everyone out but the book flowed along and takes the reader to many parts of the world .There are a lot of twists and turns in the book and this kept me guessing to the end , and there were one or two unexpected revelations at the end which made for a good ending

[Eric Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

For about 10 years I bought each Tweed novel as it came out - though I was never sure why . The author was the worst writer of dialogue of any successful one I have ever read . His novels were always formulaic , with a femme fatale of dubious loyalty , a foreign adversary intent on ruling the world and the hero's team always invincible , rarely hurt and never killed . I missed this book when I moved to Spain to live and am only now catching up with it . Absolutely nothing has changed , yet I still enjoyed it - probably because it could have been written in the golden years from 1930 to 1950 .

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very tough to keep track of all the characters in the beginning. Had to push to get this one finished, not the easiest read... A lot of action if you are into that type of thing.

[Iwona · Rating 1 out of 5]

° abgebrochen, eigentlich Null-Sterne
° infantil, unglaubwürdig

[Vijayakumar Belur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hero is Tweed. But action is by his assistants. Tweed has been molded on the lines of Perrymason.

[Andreea · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nobody is what it seems"...the last line of the book...so true in so many ways. Colin Forbes is one of the most talented writers...you can just keep reading and reading his books and always finding new and surprising intrigues.

In this one...Tweed and his team are on the hunt for "Rhinoceros"...is he a good guy or a villain?!?! The plot take us from London to Hamburg to Travemunde...always on run, always trying to figure out who is the bad guy. And as always...Tweed does it, his unique way of thinking, and with the help of his extremely diverse team, the good has no chance but to win...just remember...."NOBODY IS WHAT IT SEEMS".

[Manoj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beginning with a trail of murders covered to look like suicides, tweed and his team are on thr trail leading to one of the most disasterous schemes planned by the elite four. The whole story goes on about discovering the good side and its counterpart. A final twist before the climax when it all falls open. Again for a seasoned reader, the story unveils a little earlier than the author would have liked to. However there is enough stuff to keep the grip on. One can always like a better ending where I thought it could have been a little better. Otherwise, a good read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far better than many of Forbes' more recent instalments, largely because it shows a different side of Tweed. Often vulnerable and insecure in his convictions 'Rhinoceros' shows Tweed to be ageing and flawed, surely his and his team's charmed life can't continue for very much longer?

[James Oliver · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible book, not classic novel from Colin Forbes, the writer dislikes shine through out the book, Tweed team all stay in hotels four stars or above, editing is sloppy at times, Tweed team never get injured, plus the fact you can not buy this online

[Marie-aimée · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite english book

[Sneha JM]

I think this is a nice work of detail. Unfortunately, I did not like it much. However, its a preference based opinion. People who like suspense and can follow fast paced writing might like it more.

[Peter Thornton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter rubbish. Colin Forbes should get out more.

[Titus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harmless entertainment. Not mind expanding, but that was not what it was written for.

[M Wads]

Has to be the worst book I have ever read!

[Thomas West · Rating 2 out of 5]

R has read it 2

[Obarack Barama · Rating 1 out of 5]

Possibly the worst book I've ever read.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read by a good author.